The House Oversight Committee is planning to move forward with its presidential ethics bill with an eye toward marking it up later this month, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The bill, titled the “Presidential Ethics Reform Act,” had been plagued by some setbacks when at least three House Democrats pulled their support after being contacted by President Joe Biden’s administration, but it now has acquired enough support to go forward.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the chairman of the committee, introduced the bill together, aiming to shore up ethics concerns in the executive branch. Their motivations are likely pointed at different presidents — Comer toward Biden for his family’s alleged business dealings and Porter for former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
The bill requires the president and the vice president to be transparent with financial dealings between them or their family members, to disclose gifts valued at $10,000 or more received by them or their family, and when immediate family members accompany them on official travel, specifying when they do so for business purposes, among other things.
The three House Democrats who pulled their support previously are Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD). Khanna said the bill was “too partisan a tool to cudgel the president as opposed to a serious effort of bipartisan ethics reform.”
Khanna denied he was contacted by the White House. Mfume rescinded his support because he “wanted to see a larger bipartisan effort.”
“I was under the belief that there would be, and when there wasn’t, I just said, ‘Let me step off,’” he said at the time.
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Porter previously expressed confidence that the legislation will continue to move forward.
“Our job in Congress is to pass legislation that improves our government. This legislation does that. It is not to punish or reward friends or enemies,” Porter said. “It is to pass legislation that improves the lives of the American people and improves our democracy, and this legislation meets that test. That’s why I’m proud to support it.”
“I think that’s the question people should be asking themselves,” she added. “Not, ‘Who’s the sponsor?’ or ‘Who wrote it?’ but instead, ‘Is this legislation that would make our democracy stronger?’ And the answer is a clear, unqualified yes.”
